ARMM to receive fresh AusAID support in education

Cotabato City - The Government of Australia plans to provide a long-term support to the improvement of the quality and access to education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim in Mindanao (ARMM) through the introduction of another round of assistance that builds on the successes of the now concluded eight-year Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) project.

Ramon Bobier, BEAM project director, said the new program called Implementation Support to Design BEAM ARMM is not a continuation of BEAM but a discrete set of activities over a 12-month period that aims to maintain the momentum of education reforms in ARMM and to support the design of the Government of Australia’s (GoA) longer term assistance in the region. The planned long term education assistance would be implemented in the five provinces and 1 city of ARMM.

Efforts are now being undertaken to draw up the new project through a 12-month implementation support to BEAM-ARMM design with the involvement of several stakeholders. The new phase will include the implementation of a peace education framework specifically tailored to suit the needs of children in the region.

School and regional officials of the Department of Education (DepEd)-ARMM have recently participated in a two-day workshop forum on peace education sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The peace education framework will be able to introduce and integrate best peace concepts and culture into the curriculum and systematically build peace in the minds of the children.

A handout given during the forum describes peace education as education that is geared toward a culture of peace, which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines as “a growing body of shared values, attitudes, behaviors and ways of life based on: nonviolence, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms; understanding, tolerance and solidarity; sharing and free flow of communication; and full participation and empowerment of women.”

ARMM Education Secretary, Hamid Aminodin Barra, said peace education framework in ARMM should have Islamic teachings as its foundation.

Barra, who provided an input on Islamic framework on peace and respect for human dignity in the forum, averred that the Islamic context must always be considered in any project that will be undertaken in the ARMM.

He also allayed apprehensions that this extremism is a “religious excesses, going beyond the limits and transgressing permitted bound” as he emphasized that “Islam is a religion of moderation.”

The AusAID-BEAM project, which officially ended in November of last year, has helped improved the learning outcomes of school children in the region in English, Science and Math and increased accessed of those living in remote and depressed communities to education with its wide-ranging and innovative schemes.

ARMM, however, continues to lag behind other regions in terms of literacy and needs more help to change this trend.

The new AusAID support will focus on the particular education needs of ARMM with its unique culture and diverse populace taken into consideration. (bpiarmm)